


impulse decisions

by chiarascura



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dirty Talk, M/M, Sexting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 07:58:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6186697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiarascura/pseuds/chiarascura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felix isn’t impulsive like this. He has a planner that he follows every day, he lays out his clothes the night before, he spends Sundays cooking lunches for the upcoming week, and he doesn’t much enjoy surprises. He never follows strange men into places in strip malls, but here he is. Standing in a brightly-lit lobby full of shining mirrors and surfaces, watching the backside of an attractive man disappear into what Felix can only assume is the changing room.</p><p>alternate title: boy you're gonna carry that weight (the weight being carver's dick)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Imagine Your OTP Prompt Meme](http://professionallilbrocarverhawke.tumblr.com/post/140390411822/imagine-your-otp): Person A has just started working out at a gym for the first time and Person B, a regular, shows them the ropes and how to work things and they become workout buddies with the most UST ever (and all the other regulars have placed bets on when they get together)
> 
> But honestly this got out of control, it was supposed to be 500-800 words, and here we are almost 4000 words later……

Felix isn’t impulsive like this. He has a planner that he follows every day, he lays out his clothes the night before, he spends Sundays cooking lunches for the upcoming week, and he doesn’t much enjoy surprises. He never follows strange men into places in strip malls, but here he is. Standing in a brightly-lit lobby full of shining mirrors and surfaces, watching the backside of an attractive man disappear into what Felix can only assume is the changing room.  
  
“Can I help you, sweet thing?” The voice finally registers in his mind, and he turns to see a gorgeous woman smirking at him from behind the counter. She’s leaning forward on her elbows, likely to enhance the impressive cleavage not entirely contained in her low-cut shirt. The tattoos covering her chest and arms catch Felix’s eye, and the gold piercings in her face glint in the fluorescent light. “You look lost.”  
  
Her amused expression finally snaps him out of his lust fugue. “Um, yes. I was just… looking for a membership?” He finally notices the blue and white signs behind her proclaiming _Adamant Gym, Join Today!_  
  
She doesn’t say anything, but he can tell she isn’t buying it. “Of course.” The woman goes through all the paperwork with him and he is now out $60 per month and may have signed his soul away, but he can see the hot guy starting to lift weights through the glass partition leading to the floor. The receptionist has to snap to get his attention a couple of times, and he is sure by the end of the transaction he is beet red.  
  
“Can I go in there now?”  
  
Her gaze dragged from his button-down shirt to his khakis to his leather dress shoes. “Not dressed like that, you can’t. You need proper attire.”  
  
“Right, of course.” Felix internally scolds himself, of course he would need workout clothes, not like he just came from class. Which he did. He had been heading to the little Tevinter market, the only place that sold proper spices, in the same strip mall, when the Maker sent this man into his life.  
  
Felix returns the next day wearing newly purchased shorts, shoes, shirt, and goggles ready to work out. Dorian helped him shop the night before, giving him advice on which shorts make his ass look best. He arrives at the same time as the day before, hoping to catch the most attractive man he’s ever seen once again, but the Maker apparently doesn’t like him _that_ much.  
  
He spends thirty minutes on the treadmill just watching the other people in the gym interact. Most of them seem like a friendly bunch, joking and pushing each other to work harder. Two dwarves, a woman with dark face tattoos and a man with fiery orange hair and an epic beard, trade off time with a barbell apparently competing for the most weight. A man with an undercut and a big Qunari with an eyepatch work with dumbbells talking trash to each other. The hot receptionist and a blonde elf whisper and laugh raucously beside the smoothie bar.  
  
Felix talks to a sweet dwarf on the treadmill beside him and a personal trainer with gorgeous gold-tipped horns, and he thinks maybe this wasn’t the worst idea. They are kind: they show him how to adjust all of the options on the treadmill and give him pointers for when he wants to start working with weights.    
  
Finally, a week later, he sees the hot guy enter the gym. Felix almost drops a weight on his foot, but Adaar doesn’t judge him too much. She follows his gaze, and her grin becomes absolutely wicked. “Oh yeah, you’ve met Carver, right?”  
  
Felix whips his head around to look at her, realizes that was way too fast to be cool about it. He soldiers on and tries to use a nonchalant tone anyway. “Oh, uh. No, I haven’t. Who’s that?”  
  
The glint in Adaar’s eye is far too knowing. “He’s a regular, comes in early mornings.”  
  
Felix nods absently and his eyes drift back to where Carver stands in the lobby. He’s talking to the receptionist (who he knows now is Isabela and that she has a very firm pinch), a dark-haired woman who is built like no one he’s ever seen, and Dorian’s boyfriend. Cullen catches his eye with a smirk and tilts his head at Carver.  
  
Felix feels the flush rise to his cheeks, so he turns his back on the glass wall to the lobby and tries to concentrate on what Adaar is saying.  
  
A few minutes later, he’s almost forgotten about Carver (not true, but if he says it enough times maybe it will be) and is totally engrossed in trying to emulate Adaar’s form.  
  
Cullen’s voice from behind startles him, but he manages to keep the weight in his hand this time. He sets it down gingerly and stretches his arm as he turns.  
  
Cullen is once again smirking at him, that stupid know-it-all grin that Dorian loves so much, and to his right stands the most gorgeous man in the world. The tank top is stretched thin across his broad shoulders, outlining the firm muscles in his chest and baring his giant biceps. His face is open and boyish, with a wide smile and straight teeth. His blue eyes sparkle with amusement. Felix’s mouth goes dry at the sight.  
  
“Felix, how are you?” Cullen’s voice is friendly enough, but Felix can hear the laughter in it. “This is my buddy Carver. He was just coming over to check out the weights, thought I’d introduce the both of you. Felix is just getting started here, maybe you can show him a few things?” Felix keeps the smile on his face but narrowed his eyes at Cullen’s obvious scheming.  
  
Adaar is practically vibrating beside him, and her tiny blonde girlfriend prances over to lean on her shoulder. They start whispering to each other, but Felix tunes it out.  
  
“Carver, nice to meet you.” Felix reaches out to shake his hand, and at the touch of skin to skin, an electric bolt goes straight through him. Felix is struck dumb, unable to think of anything good to say.  
  
“Oh Felix, I have to, um, go. Maybe Carver can help you with your form?” Adaar throws the words over her shoulder as her devious girlfriend drags her away, shouting across the gym something about bees and mayhem.  
  
Felix drops Carver’s hand and licks his lips. “Well, if you’re busy, I don’t want to impose—”  
  
“No! That’s great, I’d be happy to.” Carver looks enthusiastic, and Felix’s belly swoops.  
  
Cullen backs away without a word, but Felix doesn’t notice. He drags his eyes away from the shifting muscles underneath Carver’s shirt, looks at the weight in his hand.  
  
“So, you’re new here,” Carver started as he set down his towel and water bottle on a bench.  
  
Felix nods. “Yep, this is my first week. I’ve never been to a gym before, so I’m just starting out.”  
  
Carver moves over to the rack next to the mirror. “That’s great. What brought you in?”  
  
Felix’s brain stutters to a halt. He can’t just tell Carver that Felix followed him in one day off the street in an impulsive, out of character decision. “It’s, um. A new year’s resolution. To get fit.” Felix winces as the words come out.  
  
Carver’s face creases in confusion. Thankfully, he doesn’t mention that it’s currently Bloomingtide, and Summersday isn’t too far off. “Starting kinda late, huh,” Carver says.  
  
In the mirror, Felix’s face is a deep red. “Y’know, things happen,” he mumbles. He clears his throat, tries to shake off the embarrassment. “What about you? How long have you been coming here?”  
  
Carver lifts a 50lb free weight like it’s nothing. “A couple years, now. Found it when I started at Kirkwall U, my brother used to come and train with Cullen. That’s how we know each other.”  
  
Felix swallows hard at the sight of Carver’s effortless form. He wonders absently if Carver could lift him, which leads to increasingly dirty thoughts about Carver holding him against the wall, on the bench, in the showers…  
  
“How about you?” Carver’s voice cuts through his fantasies. “How do you know Cullen?” He’s started on the other arm now, and he hasn’t even broken a sweat.  
  
Felix clears his throat. “Um. He’s dating my best friend. They met a couple of years ago, and since Dorian and I are roommates now, I see him a lot at the apartment.”  
  
Carver’s face lights up. “Oh right, Cullen’s mentioned him a few times. Got a mustache, prickly about his clothes?”  
  
Felix laughs. “Those are certainly accurate ways to describe him.” Carver replaces his weights on the rack, and brings over two 20lb weights to Felix.  
  
“Why don’t you try these. Show me how you do it.”  
  
Felix grits his teeth and exhales hard, focuses on the feel of the weights and not how Carver’s words could be misinterpreted into something dirty. Because, _Andraste’s left tit_ , he wants to misinterpret them.  
  
Felix sees Carver a lot more often after that. Most often, whoever Felix is working with at the time abandons him as soon as Carver appears. Harding remembers a spinning class she has to teach right at that second, or Sera drags Adaar away to have sex in the sauna, or whoever is nearest drags Oghren away when he doesn’t notice what’s going on. Felix can’t complain about the busybody antics of what seems like every person in this gym, not if it means he gets to spend more one-on-one time with Carver, watching his muscles swell and bulge and look generally delicious.  
  
Felix spends a lot of time in the bathroom after he gets home from the gym now.  
  
This is how, three weeks later, Felix finds himself at 7am with his new personal trainer rethinking his entire life. The Iron Bull is a brutal trainer; he is a massive man with biceps bigger than Felix’s thighs. It would be more impressive if Felix could feel his legs. Bull is punishing and makes Felix regret every choice leading to this point as he runs and runs and runs on the treadmill, but after the first workout is over, he feels better. He wipes his face down as he heads to the shower on jelly legs.  
  
It all becomes worth it as he sees Carver exiting the locker room at the same time looking fresh and flushed. Felix swallows and one of his hands rises to brush through his short hair. He hopes he’s not too sweaty and disgusting to look at.  
  
“Oh, hey. Bull pushing you, huh?” Carver’s skin glistens with post-shower dampness enhancing his golden glow and his hair is still wet and sticking to his forehead in damp curls.  
  
Felix can do nothing but stare at him for a moment. The Iron Bull’s workout punishment and Carver’s stunning body are a combination too potent to fight. When he comes back to himself, Carver’s brow is furrowed. “Are you okay? I can talk to him if it’s too much for you.”  
  
Felix blushes. “No, no thanks. It was good, I’m just exhausted now. How about you? Good workout?”  
  
“Yep, all good. I have to run to make it to class, but I’ll see you later!” Carver claps him on the shoulder and Felix’s knees almost buckled beneath him.  
  
“You too,” he says to Carver’s retreating back. A sigh of longing escapes him as he watches the man walk out again, eyes trained on his perfect butt.  
  
Another hand claps down on his shoulder, and this time he really does collapse. “Whoa there buddy, no need to get weak in the knees for me.” The Bull laughs at his own joke and Felix rolls his eyes. He doesn’t blush this time, so Felix counts it as a win.  
  
“Why don’t you just ask him out?”  
  
All that hard work, undone. Now he’s blushing. Felix feels it stain his face. He laughs nervously. “Ha, ha, very funny. What a comedian.”  
  
The Bull bumps his shoulder into Felix’s, and he stumbles again. “I’m serious. We used to only see him in the afternoons once a week, maybe. Now he’s here almost every day. The only thing that’s changed is that you’re here now.” Butterflies erupted in Felix’s belly. Was that true? Did Carver come to the gym now to see him, just like Felix joined to see Carver? It was too much to think about.  
  
“I’ll think about it,” he lies. The Bull seems to take that as an acceptable answer, and he goes back to cleaning up the equipment as Felix proceeds into the locker room.  
  
He turns the shower knob all the way cold.  
  
The next two weeks pass like this: Felix wakes up at an ungodly hour to work out with The Bull twice a week (and see Carver), he goes in three times a week in the afternoons, most of which coincidentally happen to coincide with Carver’s own sessions, and somewhere in there he has class and homework and social time with Dorian and Mae. It’s a nice routine, one that Felix doesn’t want to ruin by introducing romantic feelings into the equation.  
  
After weeks of this, Felix decides it’s enough. Every time he sees Carver, he falls a little more for the guy. It’s torture to watch him flex and lift, and then listen to his stupid jokes and his weird affection for dogs. Dorian won’t listen to him pine any longer, and Felix makes a decision.  
  
Today. Today he is going to ask out Carver. He’s got headphones in, listening to his “Fuck yeah! You rock!” playlist, and he doesn’t even disguise the way he’s staring at the lobby, waiting for Carver to enter, as he runs on the treadmill.  
  
When he walks in, Felix’s heart jumps into his throat, suddenly nervous despite his conviction. He doesn’t understand how Carver always looks so good, even in ratty workout clothes. Felix has to swallow hard to tamp down on the heat building in his belly. Felix hits the button to shut down the machine and pops out his earbuds, and despite the slowing machinery, his heart starts to race.  
  
Carver stands in the lobby, leaning on the reception desk with his butt propped out, and Felix gets distracted.  
  
Cassandra, the built woman he’s seen around but never spoken with, stands next to Carver, stopping on her way out. Her hand rests on Carver’s bicep, and she leans up on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. Felix freezes in the middle of wiping down the grips of the machine, stunned. Are Carver and Cassandra…?  
  
Felix feels like the earth has stopped spinning, like everything he knew changed in a second and he is untethered. Everything inside him that was giddy and excited to see Carver is now mired in dread. That gesture looked too friendly, more than a ‘workout-buddy’ and more like a ‘sex-buddy.’ Felix feels panic rise in his chest, replacing the soft warmth of arousal. His previous plan is spiraling out of control.  
  
Carver heads around the glass wall onto the workout floor, and his face lights up as his gaze lands on Felix. Felix’s mouth tastes sour and unpleasant, and he can’t do this. He makes a beeline for the locker room.  
  
“Hey Fee, are you—“ Carver’s smile is too happy, too gentle, and Felix marches right past, ignoring him entirely.  
  
Felix stands under the spray of the shower, holding his face in his hands as the hot water cascades down his body. He is so glad he didn’t listen to The Bull, to Adaar, to any number of people who have subtly (or in Sera’s case, not so subtly) told him to go for it. He hardly knew Carver anyway. They only ever talk when they work out together, when Carver helps him on new equipment or gives him tips on his form or acts generally charming and funny and everything Felix wants in a boyfriend.  
  
He sighs, shuts off the water, drags the towel across himself for a quick dry, and wraps it around his waist. He slides open the curtain and of course, Carver is standing right there. He’s fidgeting and shifting on his feet in a way unlike Felix has ever seen him. Whenever Carver is with him in the gym, he is confident and self-assured, proud of his body and his skill. Now, though, Felix sees an unsure side of him.  
  
“Hey, Fee, sorry to ambush you, but, is everything okay?” Carver is shirtless, standing beside the lockers in just his jeans, with a towel rolled up around the back of his neck. The firm definition of his chest snags Felix’s immediate attention, and it is too much for Felix right now. He tightens his grip on the towel around his waist.  
  
“Of course, why wouldn’t it be.” He turns away to go to his own locker, dismayed to hear Carver following him through the room.  
  
“I just. You didn’t say hi, and we usually…” Carver’s voice trails off as Felix stands facing the lockers. He places his hands flat on the cold metal and sighs. “I was looking forward to hanging out. To working out.”  
  
Felix turns back to face him with a false smile. “Everything’s fine, Carver. Didn’t you want to work out with Cassandra?” He doesn’t want to ruin his friendship with Carver, but he does need a little time to deal with the fallout of seeing Carver flirting with a woman who may or may not be his girlfriend.  
  
Carver frowns in confusion. The little dip in between his eyebrows makes him look younger, adorably baffled. “Cassandra? She just left. Why would I…?”  
  
Felix shrugs and his eyes slide away. “You seemed friendly, I didn’t want to interrupt.” He turns back to his locker and opens it, pulls out his clothes.  
  
Carver is silent for a moment, and Felix worries he said something terrible. “Uh, no. I actually, I had something I wanted to ask you.”  
  
Felix swallows and looks at the t-shirt in his grip. He slips it over his head and reaches for his jeans. “Oh yeah?” He still doesn’t turn around.  
  
“I, um. Well maybe this would be easier if we were both dressed. Just, hold on. Don’t leave yet.” Felix hears Carver’s footsteps walk away and the slam of a locker a few rows behind him. Felix finishes dressing and as he starts to tie his shoes, Carver returns.  
  
A commotion at the entrance to the locker room grabs his attention, whispers and a scuffle, but it ends soon after, and he ignores it in favor of looking up at Carver’s return.  
  
Carver twists his towel in his grip, his hands looking more tan than usual against the bleached white terrycloth.  
  
“I um. I feel like we’re friends now, after working out here together, yeah?” Carver looks so hopeful, and Felix tries not to let his heartbreak show on his face.  
  
“Of course, Carver. We’re friends.” He grits his teeth and hopes his grimace looks like a smile.  
  
Carver nods. “Well, I wanted to see if, maybe, you would want to hang out outside the gym. Maybe have dinner?”  
  
Felix blinks. “Like friends dinner?”  
  
Carver shifts on his feet, and he’s pawing at the towel so much that Felix is surprised it hasn’t shredded in his hands. “If.. If you want. I was thinking maybe like a date-dinner, but.” Carver’s cheeks turn pink, and Felix doesn’t understand. “If you’d be more comfortable with friend-dinner, then yeah.”  
  
Felix opens his mouth, but no sound comes out. “You. You want to go on a date. With me?”  
  
Carver smiles, and Felix melts. “Yeah, course I do.”  
  
“But, you’re gorgeous. And you, with Cassandra?” Felix wants to smack himself. _Words, Felix. Use your words. Words that make sense, this time._  
  
Carver’s brows furrow again. “Cassandra? What does she have to do with this?”  
  
“I saw her say hi to you earlier. You looked, er, _cozy_.”  
  
Carver’s eyes light up. “Oh, _now_ I get it. You were jealous. That’s why you walked off.” His grin splits his face, and Felix scowls without heat. He doesn’t really like how easily Carver read him, and if that’s true, how easily Felix believed the worst.  
  
“No, I wasn’t,” and Felix hears the petulance in his voice.  
  
Carver takes a step forward, places one hand on the locker behind Felix, leans into his space. “So, just to be clear, no. I am not interested in Cassandra. I am interested in you.”  
  
Felix swallows and looks up at Carver. His heart is racing again, like he’s just finished a punishing workout with The Bull, like Sera turned up the treadmill all the way to max while he was still on it, like Isabela pinched his butt and he had to run like a madman to keep it from more sensitive bits.  
  
He nods. Carver grins wider. “Yeah, okay. Date-dinner sounds good.”  
  
“Great.” Carver dips his head and Felix leans up, and they’re suddenly kissing. It’s chaste, no more than a warm press of lips, but it’s exactly perfect. Felix’s hands come up to grip the back of Carver’s neck and pull him down. Carver’s body puts off heat like a furnace, matching the heat rising inside Felix. Carver puts his hands on Felix in turn, presses him into the locker, slides their mouths together like they were made for each other.  
  
When they leave the locker room together several long minutes later, lips kiss-swollen and cheeks flushed, a group of people wait outside. They’re probably aiming for casual, but they miss it by a long shot. Sera bounces on her toes, Sigrun bites her nails, and Bull and Isabela are having a flexing competition of some kind.  
  
“Well?” Sera is the first to break and stomps over. “Didja do it or not? Are you going to,” and her gesture is absolutely _obscene_ , so Adaar pulls her back.  
  
Carver wraps an arm around Felix’s shoulder, and Felix presses his face to Carver’s bicep to hide the flush in his cheeks.  
  
Everyone cheers and Felix feels hands patting him on the back, congratulating him for ‘getting on with it already,’ and ‘we’ve been waiting forever,’ and ‘you owe me 10 gold, Bela’ and ‘did you fuck in there or, come on babe I just want to _know_ —“  
  
Felix blushes, but he thinks he can endure his friends’ teasing for this. He looks up at Carver, who looks down at him with warmth and sweet affection in his eyes, and Felix smiles. Who knew accidentally joining a gym would be such a good idea?


	2. sexting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> written for a [sexy prompt meme](http://professionallilbrocarverhawke.tumblr.com/post/140642667527/send-me-a-pairing-and-a-number-and-ill-write-you%0A): sexting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story is very emoji heavy, and since ao3 doesn't support them, I'm using their descriptors where the emoji would be. I think the story is less fun that way but [shruggie]
> 
> carver is saved in felix's phone as "carver [flexed bicep] [heart with arrow]"

The first text lights up his phone at 6:48am. Felix hears it and immediately ignores it in favor of rolling onto his stomach to continue sleeping. When his alarm goes off at 8am, he forgets entirely until the he sees the notification that says “1 message - carver"  
  
He opens it up without thinking, and promptly drops his phone. He scrambles to pick it back up.  
  
Carver sent a photo of himself in the mirror, holding his phone up and lifting his shirt with one hand to reveal his glistening, defined, delicious abs. Felix stares at the picture for long enough that his second alarm startles him into dropping his phone again.   
  
    felix : wow what a wake to wake up  
  
    carver : lol thought u would like  
  
Felix snaps a picture of himself with bedhead and all, sends it off. He then jerks off, staring at the picture, and wonders if Carver might come over before class. Carver texts him back saying he has no time for morning sex, and Felix pouts for a few minutes. What a tease, to send a picture like that with no plans to follow up.   
  
    carver : babe if u hadnt slept so long I could have…   
  
Felix finds himself distracted in class, the picture rising in his mind, combined with a recent memory of that very skin under his fingertips and mouth.  
  
Felix waits to get his revenge. He skips his afternoon workout the next day and waits until he knows Carver will be at the gym, probably on the treadmill. He takes a picture of himself lying in bed shirtless, with his shorts slung low on his hips and the barest outline of his dick visible at the bottom.   
  
    felix : look what youre missing  
  
    carver : shit fe! u cant do that when im in public  
  
Felix laughs and feels proud and pleased of his ability to fluster Carver. He sends another from his abs down, with his hand cupping the now extremely visible outline of his hard cock.   
  
    felix : this is for you, thinking about when you get home later   
  
    carver : [eyes] [splashing sweat]   
  
    carver : u just wait, cullen trying 2 talk 2 me and its going badly  
  
    felix : lol babe idk if I can wait that long  
  
    felix : I need you now   
  
    carver : going 2 the shower  
  
Felix receives a picture of Carver in the mirror again, shirtless and holding his own cock through his basketball shorts. Felix moans and pulls out his cock, unable to keep from stroking himself root to tip.   
  
    carver : ur gonna get this [eggplant]  
  
    felix : what are you gonna do  
  
    carver : im gonna lick every inch of ur body, suck u down until u lose ur voice from screaming my name  
  
    carver : the neighbors r gonna b pissed  
  
Felix shivers, imagining it. It’s not a difficult scene to conjure in his mind; it happened pretty regularly. Carver loved to use his mouth on all the soft places on Felix’s body, the ones he still felt insecure about. Felix used one hand to text and kept the other gripping his cock, the images and the text messages bringing him closer to the brink with every moment.   
  
    felix : im so close   
  
    carver : yea babe, think about my mouth on u  
  
    carver : eat u out like [peach]  
  
    carver : moan real loud so the neighbors cn hear now, get a preview of when I get home  
  
    carver : gonna fuck u into the mattress  
  
Felix comes and does moan loud enough for the neighbors to hear. His hand is sticky and wet, so he wipes it on the sheet beside him.   
  
    felix : [rocketship] [splashing sweat symbol]  
  
He lies boneless on his bed, breathing heavy and blissful, until he hears the jingle of keys and the front door slam. He manages to get his underwear all the way off before he has a giant sweaty body drop onto him.   
  
“Fuck, Felix, that was so hot,” Carver groans into Felix’s neck as he pulls his own shorts off. His cock is rock hard, and Felix wraps his hand around it as Carver grinds his hips into Felix’s stomach. He writhes above Felix for an embarrassingly short amount of time before he shouts and comes and collapses.   
  
“If that’s what I get for sending you gym selfies, expect a lot more texts in the future.”  
  
Felix hums contentedly and smiles into Carver’s neck. “I’m not complaining.”


End file.
